Tony’s Take on avos with Tony Bradley Aongatete Avocados Ltd

We are well into winter and on the way to Spring and summer. It’s almost actions stations for spring.

That’s one of our busiest times of the year so we want to be organised. We want to have a plan and a job list ordered in priority.

After a very wet June we’ve ended up behind our planned work schedule.

It’s funny that we’ve been concerned about staff availability and not getting through the work, when, in fact, that’s not the issue. It’s an issue of just getting enough fine days to get through the work. Bring on some sunshine.

As normal, it’s a mad scramble to get jobs done before the new season starts.

The work for July is around pruning and clearing up the mess, preparing fert’ plans, checking tree nutrient levels and generally getting the early season plan going.

It’s these plant nutrient levels that I turn my attention too. I aim to get the plant/tree into its best possible environment to optimally enter the main growing window - spring to summer.

That means having nutrients available in quantities and a state that the tree and roots need and can handle.

One such nutrient I want to talk about is silicon which is available in a number of forms.

While silicon is a naturally-occurring mineral, in various formats, its use in the plant is believed to help tree health and welfare.

“Silicon has been shown in studies to improve cell wall strength and structural integrity, improve drought and frost resistance, decrease lodging potential and boost the plant's natural pest and disease fighting systems. Silicon has also been shown to improve plant vigour and physiology by improving root mass and density, and increasing above ground plant biomass and crop yields.” – Ben Faber Aug 12 2015.

It was believed that this nutrient/mineral could help with phytophthora control. It is now felt that this mineral has an overall impact on tree health and vigour and therefore is beneficial to avocado trees.

In another article it describes silicon as having a stress management role in avocado trees and helps maintain tree condition in increased Phytophthora pressure environments.

Watch this space for more developments with HiPK and tree injection tonics. You may want to read up a bit more about this and I reference you to check out this article. https://ecogrowth.com.au/home/technical-articles/silicon-and-its-role-as-a-stress-mitigant-nutrient

That’s about as technical as I’m going to get but anything that helps keep our trees healthy, growing big fruit and cropping every season is what I want more of.